Residents prepare for Wetherby Road Starbucks battle today

After three rejections in four years, residents on Wetherby Road are set to face another appeal over a controversial proposed Starbucks drive-thru.

The plan for the coffee shop by Euro Garages on the former 1st Dental surgery site is set to go before another appeal this morning.

The online hearing before a government planning inspector will be the latest battle for residents against the plans.

It comes as Harrogate Borough Council withdrew its objection to the proposal. Council officers said the authority’s previous recommendation would “undermine” their case.

Four year battle over drive-thru

After the plans were first refused by the council in 2017, a key moment came a year later when a first appeal was dismissed by an inspector on the grounds that the site would cause “unacceptable” harm to nearby residents.

Euro Garages then submitted a revised scheme after what they said was “very careful consideration” of the inspector’s ruling, with a reduction in the size of the proposed building and relocated parking.

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The latest rejection came in 2019 when councillors refused the proposal again. Councillors rejected the proposal on grounds of air quality and traffic flow concerns along Wetherby Road.

However, Euro Garages decided to take the decision to appeal for a second time.

Despite the council dropping its objection, the appeal will still go ahead and allow residents to voice their concerns over the development.

‘We’ll fight our corner’

Ahead of this morning’s hearing, residents have said they are prepared to “fight their corner” over the proposal.

Joanne Richardson, who lives on Coachman’s Court next to the site, said there were good reasons to turn down the application.

She said:

“We’re prepared to fight our corner. It is just so wrong that this could be allowed to go ahead. 

“[There are] So many very good reasons why it shouldn’t.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Pat Marsh, who represents the area on the borough council, is to lead the residents into the planning appeal hearing.

She told the Stray Ferret previously that she was confident that the group had enough reasons to turn down the plan.

Cllr Marsh said:

“I think there are very sound planning reasons to turn it down and I’m confident we have come up with enough of them.

“Residents are not against the development of the site. But this is too much.”

Euro Garages, which also operates drive-thru facilities for KFC and Greggs, did not wish to comment ahead of the hearing.

However, in its statement of case submitted to the inspector, it said there were “no justifiable planning basis for refusal”.

Council to upgrade 20-year-old booking system in leisure centre overhaul

Harrogate Borough Council is set to upgrade its 20-year-old booking system as part of an overhaul of leisure facilities in the district.

The authority is set to award a contract for its leisure management system (LMS), which is used for booking lessons, memberships and operating the tills at facilities.

It would be used by the the council’s new company, Brimhams Active, which was set up as part of an overhaul of leisure in the district.

Brimhams Active is set to take over the running of Harrogate Hydro, Knaresborough Leisure Centre and other facilities in August.

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According to a report due before Cllr Stan Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, on Thursday, the current system used by the council is outdated and ageing.

It said:

“The council’s current LMS has been in use for almost 20 years. 

“Its age means that it lacks functionality which would be regarded as “standard” for operators in today’s market, leaving HBC at a competitive disadvantage.”

The council is recommended to hand the contract to an unnamed company after a competitive tender process.

The value of the contract was not revealed in the report.

If approved, the contract would last for two years with an option to extend for two further periods of 12 months.

The borough council overhauled the district’s leisure facilities last year and decided to hand them over to an arms-length company owned by the authority.

The council also announced a £26 million investment in the Harrogate Hydro and the new leisure centre at Knaresborough, which was expected to be borrowed from the government.

At the time, Cllr Lumley said the two “came hand in hand” and would help the authority save money.

The company has since been incorporated and appointed seven directors, which includes local councillors, council officers and Mark Tweedie, who has been appointed managing director of Brimhams Active.

According to Companies House, Zoe Appleton-Metcalfe, Wallace Sampson, Samuel Gibbs, Stan Lumley, Trevor Watson and Pat Marsh have been appointed directors.

Continuing the best-known name in the Harrogate district

There are few better known names in the Harrogate district than Theakston.

Robert Theakston started brewing beer in Masham in 1827 and his great-great grandson Simon continues the tradition today.

Simon is joint managing director of T & R Theakston, one of two major breweries in the picturesque market town. His cousin, Paul, is in charge of the other one — Black Sheep Brewery.

Despite his strong Masham connections, Mr Theakston is well placed to appraise recent developments in the wider Harrogate district: he lives near Boroughbridge, went to school in Harrogate and represented the Conservatives on Harrogate Borough Council for four terms. He was also chairman of Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the agricultural charity that organises the Great Yorkshire Show, from 2008 to 2016.

But nothing in his long career prepared him for the potentially ruinous overnight impact of covid when the first lockdown began in March. He says;

“We had cellars full of beer that people couldn’t buy and ended up pouring it away.

“Overnight we lost 80% of business. That required us to rethink our business model, baton down the hatches and put ourselves in a position where we could survive as long as possible.”

The furlough scheme saved jobs and the company rapidly converted its visitor centre at the brewery into a fulfilment centre for online orders — something a company that prides itself on tradition had not overly pursued until then. He says:

“Online orders have gone up by a factor of 100, albeit from a modest base.”

Family tradition

The visitor centre is due to reopen on June 21 if the lingering restrictions on pubs are lifted. Monday’s decision will be critical for the industry. Mr Theakston, who is married with two grown-up children, says:

“It’s nice having people going into gardens and seated at tables but it’s much better when people can move freely in pubs.”

Nevertheless, so far the company has survived covid with its 35 staff still intact. It seems a surprisingly low number of employees for an organisation that sells into 20 countries but the business model involves collaborating with other firms, such as Heineken, which handles distribution.

Mr Theakston describes the company as “a medium-sized traditional family brewing company.” And, for all the difficulties of the past year, he remains optimistic.

“Our industry has been through difficulties in the past. We’ve come through two world wars, revolution in Europe, the great crash of the 1930s and all sorts of issues since the Second World War and it just goes to show the robustness of what we do.

“As long as individuals want to meet other people, the role of the pub will continue to be the centre of society.”

Local politics

The future for Harrogate Borough Council, however, is less secure. The local authority, on which he represented Harlow Moor until 2018, is set to be abolished as part of the national government’s devolution agenda. Mr Theakston supports the single council model for North Yorkshire championed by North Yorkshire County Council rather than the east-west split favoured by his former council colleagues in Harrogate. He explains:

“North Yorkshire County Council currently provides about 80% of our services so it wouldn’t be a massive change for it to pick up the pieces. I’m not a fan of lots of layers of bureaucracy.”

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Harrogate Borough Council is pursuing numerous active travel plans, such as the £7.9m Station Gateway project and the pedestrianisation of James Street, to reduce traffic and encourage people to walk and cycle. The plans have proved controversial — does he support them?

“I don’t want to see Harrogate being completely pedestrianised because it will end up like any other town in the country. The idea of being able to pop into town is appealing to people like the elderly. Let’s have a bit of pedestrianisation but not lose the ability to drive into town.

“Harrogate’s such a special town and everything we did during my time on the council was to maintain it as special.”

It has been a difficult year for another organisation close to Mr Theakston’s heart — Yorkshire Agricultural Society — which decided to proceed with the Great Yorkshire Show next month when many other events have been cancelled. Was he surprised?

“The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is nothing if not pragmatic. They will be responding to the demands of exhibitions and members of the public who want to go. It’s more than an agricultural show — it’s our county show.”

Crime and cricket

The Theakston name has also become synonymous with the annual crime writing festival organised by the arts charity Harrogate International Festivals. Under its sponsorship, the festival brings many of the leading names of the genre to the town each year.

Arts and brewing may seem an unlikely match but Mr Theakston talks of beer “providing the social lubricant that lets people enjoy being with other people” and the ventures the company supports also encourage people to mingle convivially.

Recently it has also sponsored poet Ben Taylor, also known as Yorkshire Prose, to wax lyrical about the a pint being a metaphor for social interaction.

Mr Theakston is a huge cricket lover so it’s perhaps no coincidence his company sponsors the Nidderdale Amateur Cricket League and the annual National Village Cup in which some 340 villages compete for the chance to play in the final at Lord’s.

It’s little wonder the name Theakston perhaps vies with Bettys as the most well known in the district — and at least we know for certain the Theakstons exist.

There was a time when its familiarity may have faded. The family relinquished control of the business in the 1990s before buying it back in 2003, and Mr Theakston pledges it will remain in the family, in the heart of Masham.

Can he foresee the day when the business no longer consumes his professional life?

“I haven’t thought too much about when I retire. It’s still a huge passion.”

Harrogate council lifts cap on wheelchair taxi licences

A limit on the number of wheelchair-accessible taxi licences in the Harrogate district has been removed, despite concerns from cabbies it will have a “devastating” impact on trade.

Harrogate Borough Council’s licensing committee yesterday agreed to the move, which aims to support disabled people in the district.

Campaigners say disabled people have been “cut off from society” and left suffering with “social isolation and frustration” because of a lack of travel options.

But some taxi drivers are against an unlimited number of licences and urged the committee to reconsider sticking to a previous plan to introduce 12 extra plates or risk “deregulating” the trade.

Speaking at a meeting yesterday, Richard Fieldman, who runs A1 Cars of Ripon and Harrogate, said:

“When there are only 10 applicants for the proposed 12 wheelchair accessible plates, why are you considering a proposal to un-limit the number of them?

“This would not only be devastating to the trade but also to the council and its road traffic problems as there is not enough rank space to accommodate this.”

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Kevin O’Boyle, owner of Central Taxis and the longest holder of a taxi license in the district, also said in a letter to councillors before the meeting that the move risked Harrogate “losing control” of how many taxis are allowed on the roads.

He said:

“If you decide to deregulate, you, the council, will lose control and will be letting the genie out of the bottle. A genie I fear that once out, will be impossible to put back.”

Legal threat

In September last year, the licensing committee agreed to double the number of wheelchair-accessible taxi licences from 11 to 23 after a council-run study concluded disabled people were suffering from a “great deal of anxiety” over worries they could not get around.

However, the authority says has since run into difficulties over creating a “fair and lawful” system to distribute just the 12 additional licences, and it believes it could be left vulnerable to legal challenges from disappointed applicants.

Currently there are 22 wheelchair-accessible taxis operating in the district – a figure that has declined in recent years. This decline is something the council believes is partly down to the costs of purchasing a wheelchair-accessible taxi – and it is these costs that it says will “self-regulate” the number of vehicles on the roads.

Cllr Victoria Oldham, chair of the licensing committee, also told yesterday’s meeting that the council was not expecting a “surge” in licence applications and that it had not been made aware of any rank space issues.

She said:

“The purpose of these proposals is to overcome the provision for customers who require wheelchair-accessible vehicles. We know from the work that officers have done that the current provision by the trade is insufficient and does not meet the need.

“Based upon the expression of interests received in January 2021, there is no indication at this stage that there will be a surge in applicants.

“What the proposals will facilitate is the market meeting the existing demand. Numbers will also be naturally limited by the cost in purchasing and upkeeping a wheelchair accessible vehicle.”

The licensing committee voted in favour of the proposals with two amendments to conditions, which mean a review will be carried out in a year rather than five, as well as a requirement for drivers to complete a disability training course within one month of being approved rather than six.

Covid outbreak delays Harrogate council bin collections

An outbreak of covid among staff working for Harrogate Borough Council has caused delays to waste and recycling collections this week.

In a statement this afternoon, the council said it was the first time a number of staff had fallen victim to the virus in 15 months.

It added some staff were also off sick due to adverse reactions to the vaccine.

The council later said on social media staff were issued with the necessary safety precautions.

It said it hoped to catch up with refuse, recycling and garden collections by the end of Saturday.

The full council statement said:

“You may have seen on social media, or first-hand, that some waste and recycling collections have been delayed this week, and last. Throughout the covid pandemic, our crews have worked tirelessly in all conditions to ensure collections take place as normal.

“By-in-large, this has happened week in, week out with very few delays, while we also adhere to the government’s social distancing guidelines. Sadly, for the first time in 15-months, covid has got the better of us and a number of staff have had been taken ill with the virus or have had to self-isolate.

“In addition, some have also suffered adverse reactions to their vaccines. We are doing our very best to catch-up and have recruited volunteers from some of our other services to lend a helping hand with rounds.

“Sadly, for the first time in 15-months, covid has got the better of us and a number of staff have had been taken ill with the virus.

“We are optimistic that we will have all this week’s garden, refuse and recycling collected by close of play on Saturday. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused but hope you understand the position we’re in. We’ll have a further update later in the week.”

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Harrogate residents prepare to fight Starbucks second appeal

Harrogate residents fighting plans for a Starbucks drive-thru are getting ready to do battle next week when a second appeal into the rejected proposals gets underway.

A government planning inspector will on Tuesday open a hearing into the controversial plans for the former 1st Dental surgery on Wetherby Road.

The plans have already been refused three times over concerns about highway safety, air quality and the impact of nearby residents.

Retail firm Euro Garages is behind the scheme and will feel it now has its best chance yet of winning approval after Harrogate Borough Council last month withdrew an objection and chose not to contest the appeal, instead leaving it in the hands of residents.

Headed up by ward councillor Pat Marsh, locals are now preparing to take their fight to the June 15 hearing, which is expected to return a decision before the end of the month.

Cllr Marsh said:

“We are so committed to making sure the right decision is made by the inspector. This is a site that has been refused all the way down the line, including a decision from a previous inspector, so our case must have some validity.

“What we are talking about is a business which would only attract more cars to an already busy area. The name drive-thru is a good clue and it will mean cars upon cars upon cars.

“The developers will have all kinds of legal people to try to knock us down. We are not legal people, we are just normal residents who appreciate where they live and want to stop this inappropriate development in an inappropriate area.

“Residents have made a really strong case to fight this appeal and I will be there right behind them.”

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After the plans were first refused by the council in 2017, a key moment came a year later when a first appeal was dismissed by an inspector on the grounds that the site would cause “unacceptable” harm to nearby residents.

Euro Garages then submitted a revised scheme after what they said was “very careful consideration” of the inspector’s ruling, with a reduction in the size of the proposed building and relocated parking.

These latest plans were still rejected by the council in 2019, and are what will be up for debate at next week’s appeal.

‘Angry and upset’

The reason for the council not wanting to contest is because it previously made a recommendation in support of the plans, which it believes would have hindered an argument against.

It also said it was unable to find lawyers willing to fight the appeal for them.

Cllr Pat Marsh, who is also leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat party, said she was “angered” by this decision but vowed to fight on.

She said: 

“I still feel angry and upset because when we previously voted for refusal, and even though it was contrary to officer recommendation, we had sound planning reasons.

“At the time, a legal officer for the council never stood up to question this. Clearly what we had done was seen to be acceptable and we thought the council were on our side.”

A council spokesman previously said not contesting the appeal “hasn’t been an easy decision to make” but was “the best way forward in this instance.”

They said: 

“In this case, the officer recommendation of approval was overturned by the planning committee and permission was refused, which has led to an appeal by the applicant.

“Following this recommendation, along with feedback from relevant consultees and comments made by an independent inspector – who considered a previous appeal at the site for a similar proposal – we believe the most sensible and cost-effective approach would be to not defend the appeal.”

Shop vacancy rates fall in Harrogate district, according to council figures

Shop vacancy rates across Harrogate district have fallen over the last year, according to latest borough council data.

The figures for March 2021 show most areas saw a decrease in the number of vacant units on the same time last year.

Boroughbridge was among the best performing with just 1.5% of shops in the town empty – a drop from 6.1% on March last year.

According to the council’s data, just one out of 64 shops were vacant in the town.

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Meanwhile, Harrogate town saw the number of empty units fall from 9.5% in March 2020 to 7.3% in the same period this year.

However, figures for the Harrogate suburbs increased from 3.9% to 4.4%.

Pateley Bridge’s rate stayed the same, while Ripon fell to 6.6% and Masham dropped by 2.2% to 11.1%.

Overall the district has 83 out of 1,211 units sat empty, according to the data.

In a post on his news site, Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, said:

“These have been difficult times and we are still not through them. Retail and hospitality are going to face ongoing challenges but these figures are positive and an improving position on much of the last few years.

“While the Harrogate town centre vacancy rate is at its lowest since June 2015 this is somewhat masked by the fact that a few really large units in prominent positions are empty which smaller units are generally being occupied.

“Knaresborough’s figures should improve even further when the long-term empty properties on the High Street come into use later this year. They were derelict until Harrogate council bought them and refurbished them.

“The Boroughbridge story is amazing and a tribute to this positive, community-oriented outlook. The town even featured on the BBC news described as ‘Boom town Boroughbridge’; quite an accolade.”

Council reveals Knaresborough Pool £27,000 repair costs

The cost of replacing broken equipment that has kept Knaresborough Pool closed since last year has been revealed by Harrogate Borough Council.

The council announced on Friday that the pool will welcome back swimmers in July after more than 14 months of closures caused by coronavirus lockdowns and a fault with the filtration system.

It previously said there was a delay with reopening as the fault could only be fixed by Spanish manufacturers unable to travel due to covid restrictions, but a council spokesperson has now confirmed a UK-based firm has installed three new filters at a cost of £27,000.

They added the previous plan to repair the old filters would have cost £19,858, and that the now-completed works therefore represented an additional spend of “just over £7,000”.

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In March, the local Liberal Democrat party accused the council of “poor planning” and “taking its eye off the ball” because of the reopening delays, as it also questioned why a UK-based firm had not been used to fix the problem earlier.

Speaking on Friday, a council spokesperson said following an “extensive amount of work to accommodate the new filters,” they have now been installed and that the pool was being filled ready for reopening.

Cllr Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at the council, also said this was “fantastic news”.

He said: 

“We were hopeful that travel would be relaxed so that the specialist Spanish contractor could carry out the work on the existing filters. But given the continued travel restrictions, we felt now was the right time to make the decision to invest in new filters to ensure we can open the pool as soon as possible.

“I know local parents and children are keen to jump back in the pool, and thanks to the hard work and investment from the borough council, they’ll be able to do so in the coming weeks.”

Knaresborough Pool will reopen before the start of the school summer holidays in July, but the council said it could not yet give an exact date.

When it does reopen Starbeck Baths will be the only council-run leisure venue in the district to stay shut – and it remains unclear when it will make a return.

Cllr Lumley previously said he hoped Starbeck Baths would reopen shortly after Ripon Spa Baths on 14 May, but issues around staffing and social distancing mean it must remain closed for now.

Harrogate flower display celebrates 100 years of soroptimists

Harrogate Borough Council have created a flower mural in the town centre to celebrate 100 years since the founding of the Soroptimist International women’s organisation.

Soroptimist International is an organisation aimed at empowering and improving the lives of women worldwide. It tackles issues such as domestic violence, child marriage and human trafficking.

The organisation has its’ own Harrogate and District branch which is reaching its 90th anniversary.

It consists of 37 members who work locally to support women’s refuges, food banks and other women’s causes.

In July of 2019 they held a Zoom conference for women in the organisation to speak to their ‘friendship links’ worldwide during lockdown.

The name ‘soroptimist’ comes from the Latin for ‘better sister’.

The mural can be found in Harrogate town centre on Montpelier Hill.

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Harrogate councillor ‘confident’ ahead of Wetherby Road Starbucks appeal

A Harrogate councillor has said she is confident in defending a decision to refuse plans for a controversial Starbucks drive-thru on Wetherby Road.

Cllr Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents the area, is set fight the proposals with local residents at an appeal hearing next week.

It comes as Harrogate Borough Council rejected plans for the former 1st Dental surgery site three times.

But the authority has dropped its objection to the latest plans by Euro Garages for the site.

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It has left local residents to fight the proposals themselves before a planning inspector at an online appeal hearing on June 15.

Cllr Marsh, who will lead the residents’ defence next week, said she felt there were enough reasons to turn the application down.

She said:

“I think there are very sound planning reasons to turn it down and I’m confident we have come up with enough of them.

“Residents are not against the development of the site. But this is too much.”

Cllr Marsh previously described the proposal as another example of “big companies pushing for planning applications” to be put through.

Euro Garages, which also operates drive-thru facilities for KFC and Greggs, did not wish to comment ahead of the hearing.

‘It would change our lives’

Residents who live next to the 1st Dental site told the Stray Ferret previously that the Starbucks would adversely affect their lives.

David Stephenson, who has lived on Coachman’s Court with his wife for six years, is among those fighting the proposal.

Mr Stephenson’s house is next door the proposed site and he would be able to see the serving hatch of the Starbucks from his lounge window.

David Stephenson, whose house on Coachmans Court is next to the proposed Starbucks site on Wetherby Road.

David Stephenson, whose house on Coachmans Court is next to the proposed Starbucks site on Wetherby Road.

Mr Stephenson said:

“I think it is going to change our lives.

“We live in a nice, quiet cul-de-sac and this is not what we wanted in our retirement.”

Meanwhile, Joanne Richardson, who also lives on Coachman’s Court, said she “could not believe” the council would not be defending its refusal.

Last month, John Worthington, the council’s executive officer for development management, said officers could not stand successfully at appeal because their previous recommendation would “undermine” their case”.

He added that losing also risked legal costs of over £50,000.

A council spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that not contesting the appeal “hasn’t been an easy decision to make” but was “the best way forward in this instance”.